Soul mates
by Dr.Horus
Summary: For as long as anyone knew, something quite amazing happened on every leap year on New Year's Day. When the sun rose over the horizon on the first day of a new leap year everyone twenty-one or older switched bodies with their soul mate. It was a day when some found their true love, whom they would be with for the rest of their lives.


AN: Let me explain. A few months ago, around New Year's time, I saw this post on tumblr suggesting this idea and I've been wanting to write something about it for a while and I've finally managed it. I have been working on and off on this for a few weeks and it's finally finished. Try not to squint too hard at it and see my plot holes. Enjoy.

* * *

Altair rinsed the dishes that had been used for dinner and loaded them into the dish washer. In the background he could hear one of Maria's soap-operas playing, something about a cheating mother and a murderer, Altair didn't pay much attention to those. Maria was, presumably, sitting on the couch watching, content to let Altair have his turn at work since she had made dinner, not like it was much of a feat to make spaghetti. Outside the hot Syrian day had melted away to a cool night. The rest of the apartment was empty and quiet at this late hour of eleven, even though most other homes were full of music, laughing, and loud voices. Altair could feel the time weigh down on his eyelids and the increasing tiredness grew with every dish he rinsed. He couldn't wait to be snuggled down in his bed alongside his girlfriend.

When the chore of dishes was finally complete, Altair closed the dishwasher and turned it on, waiting for the quiet hum of it setting to work before leaving the small kitchen and coming out into the living room. Maria was indeed draped across the couch, her head held up only by her hand, smashing her cheek with her mouth slightly open. Her brown eyes were half covered by eyelids and she looked ready to pass out any minute. Altair leaned down and kissed her forehead, grabbing her attention.

"_I see you're having fun._" he said in Arabic, the only language he spoke, a smirk gracing his scarred lips.

"_What a way to spend New Year's Eve, right?_" she returned in the same joking tone.

"_C'mon,_" Altair offered out his hand. "_Bedtime._"

Maria didn't argue. She let Altair drag her to her feet and haul her off to their bedroom.

Why were two twenty-four year olds sitting alone at home and going to bed at eleven on New Year's Eve? Because tomorrow was the day. For as long as anyone knew, something quite amazing happened on every leap year on New Year's Day. When the sun rose over the horizon on the first day of a new leap year everyone twenty-one or older switched bodies with their soul mate. It was a day when some found their true love, whom they would be with for the rest of their lives, or for others it was a day to merely swap bodies with their partner and have an interesting experience. This was the case for Altair and Maria. The couple had been together for almost four years now and Altair could confidently say that he was in love with Maria and knew they must be soul mates.

The mattress depressed as Altair sat heavily upon it, tired from the day. He watched as Maria crawled in beside him. She smiled cheekily and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"_Good night, Altair._" she said.

"_G'night, Maria._" he said. Altair wrapped his arms around Maria and snuggled down on the bed. She sighed and relaxed against his chest.

"_Hey,_" Maria called sleepily.

Altair hummed in response, not bothering to open his amber eyes.

"_Do you think,_" she paused to yawn. "_It'll be weird to switch bodies?_"

"_I dunno._" Altair admitted.

In the days leading up to this one, the couple had been extremely curious about the whole happening. Anyone they knew who had been through it refused to tell them what it was like, saying they "needed to experience it themselves."

"_Probably weird._" he decided finally.

"_Yeah..._" Maria agreed, her voice just as sleepy as his.

It didn't take long for the two to drift off to sleep, both dreaming of what the following day would hold.

* * *

Altair stirred awake but didn't open his eyes, he wanted to sleep a bit longer. Unconsciously, he reached out to embrace Maria. But his arm met only more fabric. She must have gotten up already. Altair felt a twinge of agitation, didn't they say they were going to do this together? And then Altair suddenly realized _what_ they were supposed to do together.

It was New Year's Day.

His eyes snapped open, excitement striking, but Altair was confused when his gaze was greeted by a brown blanket on gray sheets. Wasn't their bed white sheets with a red blanket? Sitting up, Altair saw that that wasn't the only difference. The entire layout was wrong, there was no door to the adjoining bathroom, there was a large wardrobe, no dresser, the curtains were different, everything was _wrong_. This wasn't his room.

Throwing back the covers, Altair swung his legs over the side of the bed, that should have been a king but was only a queen. Now Altair was _definitely _sure something was wrong. Because he was still a man. Or rather, a _different_ man. The body he inhabited was dark, even darker than himself, and speckled by various small, pale scars that stood out on the flesh. He wore nothing but a pair of blue pajama pants printed with rubber ducks, displaying his bare, hairy chest.

This was wrong. _This was all_ _wrong._

Altair raised his hands to brush through his hair but stopped. He couldn't feel his left arm. Looking over, Altair's gut twisted slightly. His entire left arm, or rather whoever's arm it was, was missing up to just past the elbow, leaving behind only a scarred stump. Altair stared with wide eyes and gingerly touched the remainder of the arm with his right one. It was tender and twitched slightly spaztastically upon his touch.

A man? How could this be?! This meant that Maria...wasn't Altair's soul mate? But he loved her, more than anyone. Didn't that equate soul mates? And what the fuck, Altair wasn't even gay! Altair growled angrily, confused and frustrated by this unexpected and unwanted turn of events.

"What the hell..." Altair stopped mid speech when he noticed there was something off about his words. He was speaking a different language, English he thought, but he understood himself perfectly. Did that mean that whoever he was right now spoke English? Did that mean he wasn't even in Syria?

This was too much. Altair drug a hand, not his, down his, not his, face. This was all too weird and strange and fucked up! What was Altair supposed to do now? His soul mate was some _crippled man_ who lived somewhere they spoke English?!

With a heave, Altair stood. He was still uncertain about everything by this point, but he knew he was getting nowhere staying in bed. It was time to take action. So he walked over to the wardrobe and pulled one door open. The wardrobe was filled with all sorts of different clothes, much different than what Altair wore. The Syrian mostly only had T-shirts, jeans, and hoodies. But this guy, who_ever_ he was, certainly had a taste in fashion. He had coats, jackets, shirts of all kinds, pants of various styles, and, _ugh_, accessories. Altair wanted to slam the door and not get dressed at all, but as much as he found the idea of wearing any of these clothes distasteful, he was _not_ going to go around in rubber ducky pants. With a sigh, he started searching through the carefully folded or hanging clothes for something acceptable.

After a bit of looking Altair triumphantly retrieved a wadded up brown hoodie that had been hidden in the back, and a black T-shirt with a V-neck that wasn't terribly offensive to Altair's eyes. He had a bit of trouble getting the clothes on, having only one arm, but eventually he was dressed and went to leave the room. On the way, Altair caught the sight of the body he inhabited in a mirror on the wall. He stopped and examined the capsule he was trapped in for the day.

The man looked about Altair's age, a mess of black hair atop his head, even though Altair had already combed through it a bit, and a touch of hair that served as a beard, Altair supposed, on his chin. The man had dark brown eyes that almost seemed black and looked very tired. He had dark, jagged eyebrows and perfectly shaped lips that looked so soft. Altair had to admit that he was a good looking guy, at least he wasn't stuck in some loser. Just a weirdo.

The apartment that Altair found himself in was small, consisting of only a few rooms. The living room was connected to the kitchen, separated only by a counter, and both were cramped. Then there was the room Altair had come from, a bedroom obviously, and two other doors he didn't bother to explore. Instead he B-lined for the kitchen.

Coffee. Top priority was coffee. No matter how weird this guy was, he _had_ to have coffee. A brief investigation of the cupboard turned up a bag of coffee grounds, but no coffee maker.

"Where is it...?" Altair muttered, still unused to hearing his voice in this weird body.

Eventually Altair found a coffee maker, but not the kind he was hoping for. It was a French press, something that Altair had never used. The machines were so much easier and Altair really didn't care about the quality, just wanting his hot, energizing drink in the morning. Though he had never used one before, Altair figured out how to work the press and soon had coffee brewing. Altair resigned to sit at the small table in the middle of the kitchen, his head laid face down on the wood, waiting for his coffee.

Suddenly a noise brought Altair's head up. Was he not the only one who lived here? The thought shocked Altair and he was surprised he hadn't considered it earlier. Shit, what if this guy had a girlfriend, or perhaps a roommate, or wife even. The figure in the hallway answered Altair's question. Kind of.

It was definitely a guy, and looked a lot like Altair's current body. Though his skin was a touch lighter, he had the same black hair, but his was a little longer and less messy, despite it looking like the man hadn't brushed it yet. He looked a bit younger than whoever Altair was and had shockingly bright blue eyes that stared with curiosity and excitement as he, or whoever currently lived behind those eyes, looked about his surroundings. The man wore a white T-shirt and red, heart printed pants that looked like they matched the ones Altair was wearing earlier. When the kid noticed Altair he smiled and walked over.

"Good morning." he greeted brightly, his voice high and excitable.

"Morning." Altair replied dully.

"This is so exciting!" he cried. "Are you doing this New Year's thing too?"

Altair nodded miserably. He really wished he wasn't.

"This is just so exciting!" the man squealed again. He hopped a few times, clutching his hands together. "It's all just _so_ cool! I'm Kate, by the way. Kate Boyarsky." he said, or rather her now, sticking out her hand in offering. Altair almost audibly groaned.

Altair really wished that this guy just lived alone. Who even was this Kate and who was she possessing?

"Altair Ibn-La'Ahad." he finally answered lethargically, blinking slowly up at Kate, not taking the hand.

"Oooh, sounds foreign. Where are you from?" Kate asked, her borrowed blue eyes wide with interest. She took a seat across from Altair at the table and propped her elbows up, resting her chin on her hands.

"Syria." Altair really wished Kate would just _shut up_, he was starting to get a headache.

"That's a long ways from here." Kate noted cheerfully.

"Where is here exactly?" Altair asked, realizing he had yet to even look out a window.

"Seattle, Washington." the blue eyed man, or rather who was wearing the blue eyed man, replied. "Not that far from my home actually! I live right around the space needle."

Altair stared dejectedly at Kate for a long minute before standing and checking on the coffee. Luckily it was done, or at least Altair guessed. He _really_ wasn't use to this thing. Nevertheless, he pushed down the press and poured a cup, then sat back down and took a sip. It actually wasn't that bad. In fact, it tasted really good, much better than the machine coffee that Altair was used to. The unexpected pleasantry was nice and served to relax Altair a bit. His tense shoulders dropped and he took another sip, this time longer. He was aware of Kate getting her own cup of coffee, but ignored her. When the girl/guy was back at the table, Altair felt like he wanted to bash in her adorable face a _little_ less. They sat in silence and drank their coffee, all the while Altair was trying to figure things out.

If Altair was in this man's body, did that mean Maria was back in his own body with someone else in her's? Or was she even in his body? Was it possible to be the soul mate of a person but have them not be your soul mate? The idea that Maria wasn't in his body either was a bit disheartening. Altair didn't know how all this body switching happened, be it by the hand of fate, destiny, God, or Allah, but he did know that they had one cruel sense of humor. Whose place was it to decide if two people were soul mates besides the people involved anyway? It almost made Altair laugh how drastically his opinion of this event changed from the night before.

Once his coffee was consumed, Altair stood with the intent to know just who the hell he was walking around as. The guy had to have some sort of I.D. somewhere or something. Probably in a wallet. Altair searched about through the apartment, looking for a wallet or _anything_ that might help in his plight. Kate took up a similar search for her own soul mate.

"Aha!" Altair called as he scooped up the small leather wallet that had fallen off the back of the small chest of drawers by the door and wedged between it and the wall. He didn't hesitate in opening it and was immediately greeted by a terrible picture of the brown eyed man and a name plastered across a driver's license.

"Malik Al-Sayf." he read aloud. Arabic. Huh, funny.

He continued to sift through the contents of the wallet. Altair found a credit card, a few membership cards for places like Fred Meyer or Safeway, a coupon for a spa that was expired, a ticket stub, and a photo of Malik with an arm, his left arm, slung across Kate's new body's shoulders. They both grinned broadly at the camera and looked like they were in a desert. Altair wondered, not for the first time, who the other man was to Malik. Was Malik gay? Or was the other simply a friend, or relative perhaps? They looked very similar, maybe cousins or brothers. That seemed the most likely.

"Look what I found!" Kate said triumphantly. She came walking into the room waving a wallet that was made out of duct tape printed with classic curly mustaches. "Apparently my soul mate's name is Kadar Al-Sayf." she struggled to pronounce the name.

Altair held up the wallet in his own hand. "Malik Al-Sayf." Altair punctuated the last name correctly and gave Kate a look. "They must be brothers." he concluded.

Kate nodded thoughtfully. "We have their names. It's a start at least."

"_We_ don't have anything. I have a name, and you have a name. There's no _we_." Altair said curtly.

Kate looked disappointed at this news. "Aw, c'mon, Altair! We're in this together! If our soul mates are brothers then we should work together to figure out more about them."

"No." Altair replied shortly.

"You need my help." Kate replied matter-of-factly, crossing her arms and sticking out her hip. She rapidly changed from friendly to challenging in a matter of moments and took Altair slightly off guard. This woman wasn't as witless as her earlier bubble headed attitude would suggest. Altair quickly adopted a more offensive pose and tone.

"No, I don't." Altair shot back, insulted at the mere suggestion.

"I live near here, I know my way around here much better than you, who is from a completely different country, might I remind you. If you want to find out just who this Malik is, you need my help." Kate said smugly.

Altair had to admit, if only to himself, that Kate was right, if only a little. He was in a strange country that he'd never been to and didn't understand. Unfortunately, Kate was his only contact here and if he wanted any hope of figuring out who Malik is before the day was up, he would need her help.

"Fine." he finally spat, albeit begrudgingly. "Just don't be so irritating."

Kate gave him a happy smile. "I wouldn't think of it!" she said cheerfully.

Altair was already regretting his decision.

First things first, the two searched the apartment for anything that would allude to who their "soul mates" were. They found bills, junk mail, receipts, documents, scrap paper, but nothing to really help them. All Altair uncovered was that whomever this Malik was, he was in debt and having trouble keeping his car, his apartment, and his two part time jobs. It wasn't until several hours later that Kate came out of Kadar's closet with a paper clutched in her hand.

"Look at this," she said, giving Altair a nudge, who was looking through a box he found in the hall closet. He took the paper and squinted at it.

"God dammit, I can't hardly make out the letters." he muttered angrily. He pulled down the glasses, a pair he had found on Malik's bedside table, which he had pushed onto his head in annoyance. Malik apparently wore reading glasses. _Fantastic._

"A college acceptance letter." he concluded after reading over the paper.

"Cider Side College," she pointed out, tapping the spot on the paper that said this. "That's where I go! I bet if we went there and asked around, we could dig up something about these two." Kate said, seeming excited about the prospect.

"It's better than what we've found so far." Altair sighed in a resigned way.

The two threw on coats and headed outside to the streets. Being January, there was a cold nip to the air and dark clouds looming in the sky and Altair was not use to this _at all_. He was born and raised in Syria where hot deserts were the norm, not _this_. It hardly ever rained in Damascus, much to Altair's delight, and the clouds overhead that threatened to spill over the currently dry streets made Altair nervous. A bitter wind that whipped up didn't help things at all. Altair clung to his coat and pulled it closer around him. He noticed that Kate didn't seem fazed at all by the weather. How could the girl not find it fucking freezing out here?

After a cab ride and a short walk, Altair and Kate arrived at Cider Side College. Luckily, the inside was blissfully warm, causing Altair's chill to quickly vanish, but a sense of homesickness lingered. Kate seemed to know her way around so Altair trailed slightly behind as the woman in disguise led the way deeper into the school. They only stopped when they reached a door which Kate knocked at once before entering into the office that it led to like she owned the place. In the office was a cluttered desk with a very bored looking old woman sitting in a swivel chair. Her eyes flicked up at them when they entered.

"Hello!" Kate greeted joyfully, giving the woman a bright grin. "My name is Kate, and this is my friend Altair, we're mixed up in all this New Year's fun and we're trying to figure out who our soul mates are. All we know is that they go to this school and I was really hoping you could help us, _please?_"

The woman blinked slowly as if to hide an eye roll and continued to stare at them dully as she said, "Names?"

"Kadar Al-Sayf," she said it correctly this time. "And Malik Al-Sayf."

The old lady tacked away at the computer before her, going slow and being unnecessarily loud. Altair frowned at the way she purposefully slammed her fingers into each key. At. A. Very. Sluggish. Pace. He felt his headache worsen and wanted desperately to just rip her fucking fingers off!

Finally she looked back up to them through her long, pointed, cat-eye glasses that reached out at least four inches on either side of her wrinkled face.

"It would appear from their choice of classes that Malik is working towards being a lawyer or teacher and Kadar might be trying to be a doctor." she told them in a languid tone.

Kate beamed. "Thank you so much, you've been _immensely_ helpful. Happy New Year's." she said.

For just a second the woman's face softened a marginal amount. "Good luck." she said softly.

"Thank you." Kate repeated.

Altair stared at her a second longer before following Kate out the door. He caught up with the American who was already striding down the hall.

"Now what? So these two want to be a lawyer and doctor, so what? How does that help us?" Altair sulked, stuffing his hand, still getting use to that, in his pocket.

Kate gave him a sidelong glance. "Altair, what do you think we're doing? We're trying to find out more about our soul mates so we know them better for tomorrow."

Altair clenched his jaw tight. He wasn't so sure he_ wanted_ to know more about Malik. After all, he had a steady girlfriend waiting for him at home, what was he thinking even looking into this? It must have all been a mistake. Could that happen? Maybe his soul had gotten lost and ended up in Malik's body. But at the same time, Altair couldn't help being curious. If Malik _was_ his soul mate, Altair wanted to know why. What made this man such a perfect match for him?

"Altair?" Kate's voice broke Altair's reverie. He looked over and saw a look of thought upon the woman's borrowed face.

"I'm hungry." it came out as a sigh. Altair's golden eyes settled ahead in a dull stare. He was tired, confused, hungry, and it was one thirty in the afternoon already. Altair's stomach growled hungrily, reminding him he hadn't stopped for breakfast.

"I know a good restaurant not far from here. I go there for lunch a lot." Kate said, back to her friendly tone, and started steering Altair down the street that they had come out onto. Altair didn't know what sort of food they ate in America and didn't know what this woman considered_ "_good."

A few blocks from Cider Side, Kate led Altair into a small corner cafe that was warm and immediately smelled of foreign food. They got a table in the corner beside a large window that looked out onto the streets that were slowly being speckled darker with the sprinkling of rain that had just started up. A menu was put before Altair and he unenthusiastically ran his eyes over the strange English words that he could somehow understand. He guessed that was part of the New Year's thing, you could understand whatever language your soul mate spoke. It certainly would make it a lot easier for people from different places in the world.

"What even is this crap?" he finally demanded, scrunching up his nose in disgust at the dishes on display across the laminated paper.

"Food." Kate answered obviously, earning a glare from the Syrian. She rolled her eyes at the lack of humor present in her company and turned her gaze down to her own menu before continuing. "It's American food. It's really good. You should try a hamburger."

"Tch!" Altair closed the menu and practically slammed it down in distaste. He jerked his head to the side and stared out at the rain.

A dull pain that felt like pin pricks started in the end of Altair's, Malik's, stump. Altair reached a hand up and massaged the stunted limb which had started hurting ever since the fat raindrops started falling. Altair absolutely detested water and being in a place where it _fell from the sky_ was just vile.

When the waitress came around Kate ordered for them both, Altair not caring one way or the other, and she left to go get them food. The couple waited in silence until the woman returned with two hot plates of food. Altair stared suspiciously at the odd American food.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to pick at your food?" Kate teased with a little amused smile.

Altair glared at her. Kate just laughed and dug into her dish.

The Syrian was a little more wary as he picked up the burger that Kate had ordered him. He closed his eyes and slowly bit down, chewing cautiously. Altair wrinkled his nose when he finally managed to swallow.

"Ew! Nasty, who decided this was edible?" he demanded rather loudly, washing down the food with a gulp of water.

Kate laughed at Altair's reaction.

"Like it?"

Suffice it to say that Altair did not enjoy the rest of his meal and didn't even finish the food, instead he settled for letting his eyes wander about while Kate ate. After a time they had both finished and Kate paid with Kadar's money before they left. Luckily the rain had stopped but the sidewalk was still wet from the mild drizzle. Altair avoided the bigger puddles as they strolled down the sidewalk.

"Kate?" he began, frowning at the ground.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"You said you lived in this city, so why don't you just go home and meet Kadar?" Altair turned his face back over to her's, or rather Kadar's.

Kate looked thoughtful for a handful of seconds before responding.

"I've been looking forward to this day for _years_, thought about who my soul mate might be countless times, and now that I'm finally here, I want to savor this. This is fun! I feel like I'm in a detective novel. Just think about how romantic it's going to be when we find each other tomorrow! I wouldn't want to ruin this for the world." Kate said contently.

Altair considered that for a minute. He wondered what would happen for him tomorrow. He'd wake up on the other side of the world with Maria and have to explain why he wasn't her the day before. Would he ever see Malik again? Altair really didn't want to. But fate seemed to decide things, not him.

"Altair?" Kate inquired carefully. "Are you going to see Malik tomorrow? I mean, I know you live like, a long ways from here and everything, but if your soul mates, won't you come see him?"

Altair clenched his fist and set his jaw.

"No." he said firmly. "This asshole has fucked up _everything._" Altair said with unexpected malice. "I have a girlfriend, I was going to propose to her today, and now all that is down the drain! There is no fucking way I ever want to see this bastard's face again!"

Kate looked taken aback by Altair's sudden outburst. Altair glared back at the ground and kicked at a crack in the concrete. He wondered why the fuck the world had to be so damn cruel. Ignoring the girl at his side, Altair stormed ahead, leaving Kate behind. He didn't know where he was going, he just knew he had to get away, from what he didn't even know that!

It wasn't until long after dark that Altair and Kate saw each other again. After he had stormed off, Altair had managed to find his way back to Kadar and Malik's apartment, after a couple hours of wandering, and watched TV for a while. He decided he hated American TV. Kate stayed out longer, probably trying to uncover more about Kadar. Eventually the door opened and Kate in Kadar's body walked in. Altair glanced over at the clock and found that it was already half past nine.

"Hey, glad to see you got back. I was worried you might have gotten lost so I went looking for you." Kate said, sounding honestly concerned. Altair felt a twinge of guilt.

Altair let out a puff of breath. "Sorry...about storming off. I just needed some space...Today's been hard." He had no clue why he was even bothering to apologize to Kate. He didn't know her and would never speak to her again after today. He didn't want to admit it, but the girl had kind of grown on him.

"Don't worry about it." Kate replied, lighthearted once again. She dropped down on the couch beside Altair and smiled. "I can imagine how things might be tough on you." She rested a hand comfortingly on Altair's knee.

Usually Altair disliked physical contact when it came from someone he didn't know well, but oddly enough he didn't mind too much when Kate touched him, and her voice took on this soothing tone that helped to further console Altair. He eased up his tense body a bit and settled down on the couch a little more. Silence fell between them but it didn't seem awkward.

"What're you watching?" Kate asked eventually.

"I don't know...Something called 'The price is right'." Altair answered, motioning vaguely at the screen.

Kate laughed. "Oh my God, this is so old. It's even when they still had Bob Barker on it."

They watched the game show Altair proclaimed as stupid for a little longer before Kate suggested they get something to eat. Altair had to admit that he was quite hungry. Between not having eaten breakfast and hardly having touched his lunch, he was famished.

"What do you want for dinner?" Kate asked as she stuck her head in the fridge to see what the actual occupants of the apartment had on hand.

"How about eggs?" Altair suggested after spotting a carton in the fridge.

"I'm not too good at frying them, but I can scramble an egg like nobody's business." Kate declared.

She took the carton out of the fridge and went to work. Altair helped her quite a bit, it was like the girl had never touched a frying pan before. In the end Altair entirely took over the cooking, shooing Kate to a safe distance so she wouldn't ruin anything then proceeded to make fantastic eggs. Once seated at the table, Altair hungrily devoured the food, wishing he would have eaten something, _anything_, sooner. Kate laughed and teased him about being a picky eater and Altair said something unintelligible around his mouthful of food in return.

After dinner the two watched more TV, Kate insisted they watch the new episode of the TV show she loved that came on that night. Altair decided that not _all_ American TV was bad. This show, "Modern Family", at least wasn't so bad. In fact, he found himself wondering if he could watch more of it once he got back home even though Maria would tease him for watching such a show.

A while later Kate finally declared that she was too exhausted to stay up any longer. She stood, stretched, and yawned. Altair stood as well, being pretty tired himself.

"Well," Kate gave Altair one last smile, a little sweet and a little sad. "I had fun today, Altair. I'm glad I got to meet you. I wish I could see you again. Good night." She came forward and gave Altair a short peck on the cheek.

"Good night, Kate." he replied, his tone oddly soft, almost affectionate. What, _no_, no way was _he_ going soft. God, he'd only known the girl for a day, he was not getting _attached_. Before Altair said something that would make a fool of himself, he retreated to Malik's bedroom.

Today had been a long day. Admittedly, Altair had enjoyed Kate's company, eventually, but he was glad to be going home. He wondered if things would be the same between him and Maria again. The thought was troubling so Altair decided not to linger on it. He swiftly got dressed again in the rubber ducky pajama bottoms, not bothering to take off his t-shirt, mostly because it was difficult to do so with only one arm. Altair didn't know Malik, but he applauded the man at least for being able to manage with only one arm. He wondered what had happened to the limb. He had these thoughts in mind as he crawled into bed and attempted some sort of sleep.

* * *

Slowly, Altair woke, but didn't dare open his eyes. He dreaded what he would find on the other side. Instead he focused on other things. Like the feeling that he was no longer on a bed. Altair shifted and confirmed that he was laying on a couch, a blanket thrown over his body, and a pillow under his head. It made sense that Malik wouldn't have wanted to sleep in the same bed with whoever was wearing Maria. Altair's back was slightly sore from having slept on the couch all night.

Eventually, Altair decided he had better get up. He forced his eyes open and took in the familiar sight of his living room. He would have been glad to be home if his gut wasn't filled with a sense of dread. He slowly hauled himself to his feet and was a little relieved to no longer be wearing rubber ducky pants. Altair stalled by stretching and rubbing his eyes and yawning even though he didn't need to.

It was going to happen one way or the other so may as well not avoid it any longer. Altair took a deep breath and walked over to his bedroom door, _their_ bedroom door. He knocked briefly, just a warning, before pushing inside.

The bedroom was dimly lit, the only illumination coming from around the curtains draw over the window. Maria sat up in the bed, twisting around to look at Altair. She looked like she'd already been awake for a while. Altair took a deep breath and walked farther into the room, only stopping to sit on the edge of their bed, was it even theirs anymore?

"_Hi._" Maria greeted, her lips pursed.

"_Hi._" Altair replied, it coming out as more of a sigh.

"_So I guess you noticed I wasn't you yesterday._" she began slowly. Maria twisted the blanket in her hands nervously.

Altair shook his head. "_I wasn't you either._" he admitted.

Maria didn't look surprised. She just looked a little sadder. She sat a little straighter and tugged her blanket covered knees closer to her body.

"_We aren't soul mates._" It didn't need to be said since it was fairly obvious, but the statement made the fact a little more real. A little more true.

"_Who was she?_" Maria asked. "_Your soul mate?_"

Altair debated not telling her. After all it was embarrassing and seemed a little wrong to tell Maria about the person who she was supposed to have been.

"_It was a man, actually. His name is Malik_." he decided to tell her the truth.

"_Mine was Robert. I've told you about him, he works in the office with me. We dated for a few years in college._" Hearing about Maria's soul mate, who wasn't Altair, made his throat constrict.

"_Altair, I _do_ love you, but it seems unfair to everyone involved if we stay together...even though we aren't soul mates._" Altair knew what she was saying but didn't want to believe it.

"_I'm sorry, Altair._" Maria looked truly sorry, but it was hard for Altair at the moment to register that.

"_Okay._" was all Altair could manage.

Four years. For four years Altair had been with Maria and loved her with all his heart. Now just because fate had told them so, Maria was breaking up with him. He wondered if she loved Robert more than him maybe that was the real reason she was leaving and just using this incident as an excuse. Altair tried to irradiate that kind of thinking, but it was hard.

Maria leaned forward and gave Altair a tender goodbye kiss. She broke away and gave him a sad smile. Altair tried to smile back but he was afraid it came out more as a grimace.

Maria stood and starting getting dress. Altair just sat on the bed watching, numb inside. She packed some of her things, mostly just clothes, and explained how she was going to stay at Robert's place. When she didn't receive an answer she said farewell and left. Altair listened to the door of the apartment close in the other room, feeling his heart break with the soft click. His love, his girlfriend, his almost fiancé, had just dumped him, simply left. It was hard to swallow. But once he did, Altair was consumed with rage. This was all Malik's fault.

Suddenly Altair found himself getting dressed furiously. He had his mind set that he would fly to America, find Malik, and punch him in his stupid face or something. Altair needed to get revenge, to show that asshole all the damage he'd done. The next thing Altair knew he was buying a plane ticket and was off for Seattle.

Halfway through the flight Altair considered his sanity. He had just completely abandoned his old life to fly across the world to get even with his supposed "soul mate." What kind of crazy person did that? But Altair found he didn't care at this point. Nothing much mattered to him right now. With Maria gone, he hadn't had much of a life to leave behind.

It seemed to take forever to get out of the airport once in America and Altair decided for the thousandth time that he hated this country. He didn't run into any real problems though until he needed to get to Malik's apartment. Altair remembered the address, but the problem was trying to get a cab there since he could no longer speak or understand English. Altair ended up cussing up a storm in Arabic as he stomped down the street, scaring off any hapless passerbyers.

It was nearing sunset by the time Altair finally found Malik's apartment. It had rained twice, both times very hard and suddenly, and despite his coat, Altair was chilled to the bone. He _hated_ water. He also hated rain. A lot. But at least he was here now. Altair stopped at the door and heard voices on the other side. He disregarded the fact that it sounded like Malik had company, being polite the farthest thing on his mind, and knocked loudly. The voices ceased.

The door was opened and Malik stood there. His eyes ran all over Altair's face, surprise clearly showing on his own. For a long second they were both silent.

"_Can I come in?_" Altair asked, not caring if the other understood him.

"_Sure_." Altair was slightly surprised that Malik responded in Arabic.

Malik opened the door wider and allowed Altair into his living space. The apartment was just as Altair remembered it. Kadar sat on the couch, looking curiously over, and a woman sat beside him. She was small and petite with light skin and a freckled face, her short hair was bright orange.

"_Kadar, this is the guy_." Malik said, motioned to Altair.

Altair suspected that Malik must have told his brother about him, because Kadar seemed to know exactly what Malik referred to.

"Altair?" Kadar spoke, his voice sounding much different now that Kate wasn't the one speaking.

"Altair?" the girl perked up, jumping to her feet. "It's me, Kate!"

Altair understood "Kate" and knew that this must be Kadar's soul mate, the woman he had spent most of yesterday with. It was slightly comforting to have the familiar girl in this awkward setting. But it quickly become much less wanted when Kate came over and hugged him.

"You came! I'm glad to see you again." she said happily, grinning up at him.

Altair really had no idea what the woman was saying so he just nodded. He looked back to Malik.

"_Can we speak alone?_" he requested, his eyes flickering over to Kate and Kadar.

"Kadar, Kate," Malik addressed the two in English. "Would you two give us some privacy?"

Kadar's gaze went from Altair to Malik to Altair and back again. He finally stood and caught Kate's hand on the way to the door.

"Sure." he said cheerfully. "Kate and I will go have dinner, we'll be back later."

"Bye." Malik waved them off.

"Bye, Malik. Bye, Altair." Kate said, then let herself be whisked away with Kadar.

With the absence of Kadar and Kate came an uncomfortable silence. Altair stood awkwardly, looking about the little living area and feeling very strange in the middle of it. Now that he was here all emotion had been drained from him and he felt empty.

"_Would you like some coffee?_" Malik offered. Altair nodded. He remembered he liked the French press coffee and was pretty exhausted from his spontaneous flight.

Malik went into the kitchen and fetched the coffee, and put some into the press while the water boiled. Altair shed his wet jacket and hung it by the door before following. He decided not to sit at the table even as Malik did. Instead he stood and glared down at the brunette, his anger suddenly flaring back with full force.

"_So you're my 'soul mate'._" Altair sneered out the title.

Malik frowned back.

"_Apparently so._" he said through pursed lips. He seemed just as displeased about it as Altair, if that was possible.

"_What the fuck gives you the right to upturn my life like this, huh?_" Altair demanded, slamming his fist down on the table.

Malik didn't seem too pleased with this treatment. "_Fuck you, do you think I asked for this? It's not my choice who my soul mate is!_"

Altair carried on, heedless of Malik defense. "_I was going to propose to my girlfriend yesterday, but now she left me because of you, some crippled asshole who can't even manage to pay the bills!_"

That seemed to cross a line. Malik narrowed his eyes and stood, hunching his shoulders as he pressed his one hand down on the table.

"_You're no fucking catch either. You're a broke loser who can't hardly keep a job for a week! Besides, if you despise me so much, why even bother and fly across the world to come here?_"

"_To do this!_" Altair shouted.

His fist flew forward and connected with Malik's cheek bone. Malik cursed and stumbled back until he bumped into the counter behind him. He cupped his cheek and cursed, glaring at Altair.

"_Bastard!_"

Malik vaulted over the table and slammed his feet into Altair's chest, knocking him backward. Malik quickly followed up with a punch to Altair's face, but the golden eyed man was swift to dodge and Malik's fist only hit the wall. He hissed at the pain and quickly stepped back. Altair took the advantage and punched Malik again, making him reel once more. Malik made a wild swing that Altair ducked under and proceeded to kick Malik's legs out of under him, making him crash to the floor. Altair rolled on top of Malik, straddling his waist, and pinned his one wrist to the floor by his head. Malik twisted and struggled beneath Altair, but he was unable to escape. Finally he gave up the fruitless struggle and glared up at Altair.

There was an intense fire that burned in Malik's dark eyes, radiating the hate he felt towards his attacker. Altair felt a little flutter in his stomach. Malik looked so...attractive like this. That furious look across his rather handsome face and to have him under Altair like this... He was suddenly taken by an irrational desire. Ignoring reason, Altair indulged that desire. He leaned down and his lips crashed into Malik's, forcing his anger and frustration into the kiss. After a long moment, Altair pulled back, his frown mostly dispersed by now. Malik didn't look as angry as he had before either.

Suddenly Altair was yanked down into another heated kiss. Altair didn't recall releasing Malik, but his hand was holding the back of Altair's head, pulling him into the kiss. He didn't deny the one armed man and kissed back. Their lips moved together and soon they were joined by wrestling tongues and clashing teeth.

When they finally broke apart the air was filled with labored breathing, panting, and gasping. Altair and Malik stared at each other for a few long minutes, calmer now that their passionate embrace had ended. Somewhere in the back of his mind Altair had expected it to feel weird to kiss another man, but it hadn't. It had felt strangely _right_. Is that why they're soul mates? Altair had never been attracted to men before, but this one, this one blew him away and drew out this hidden desire from someplace Altair didn't even know. Maybe this wasn't as bad as he had originally thought. Altair was still upset about losing Maria, but maybe it was meant to happen so he could be with Malik. Altair could hardly believe that he was even considering this and would have slapped himself had these sorts of thoughts crossed his minds mere days ago. Funny how quickly things could change.

"I think..." A smile sneaked onto Altair's face. "I could get used to this."

Malik scoffed and rolled his eyes.


End file.
